David Pollack downplays concerns over presence of Jordon Hudson around Bill Belichick, UNC football

David Pollack has been wildly supportive of Bill Belichick‘s return to coaching at North Carolina, believing the six-time Super Bowl champion is the perfect person to turn things around in Chapel Hill. And that unflinching conviction hasn’t been impacted by the ongoing drama surrounding the 73-year-old Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.

“I think he’ll be very successful. … I (still) do,” Pollack, the Georgia legend, said recently on his See Ball Get Ball podcast. “The most strange thing about this to me is (this goes against the narrative about) the Bill Belichick we knew for 40 years coaching NFL football, like that guy was anti anything to do with him. You didn’t know anything about his personal life. He didn’t care. It was just (about) football. … And now, like, he’s on Instagram, and he’s on social media. It’s weird, it’s different.

“But here’s the bottom line, … now listen, how she behaves around the players and if she’s a whack job, that can absolutely affect the building and the players. But most of these kids think it’s pretty awesome Bill has a young hunny. OK? I’m just telling you. … Most of them are like, ‘Dang, Bill. Do yo thang!’ I can promise you. That is the reaction (inside the UNC locker room). They’re looking and going, ‘That’s good work, Bill. Great job.’”

Regardless of whether Tar Heels players are in favor of Belichick’s personal and professional relationship with a woman nearly 50 years his junior, it’s clear Pollack believes Belichick’s unique football mind will ultimately be the only thing that matters once the 2025 season kicks off in the Fall. That is why he is backing Belichick to be successful.

“(It’s) his ability to coach, his ability to hire the right people and to have a GM and come in and run it like a business. … But most importantly, to do what he does best, I think, is why he’s going to be great,” Pollack continued. “He’s going to screw quarterbacks up with great confusing things. That’s what he does. He’s the elite of the elite of the elite of that. One of the best to ever do it. And he’s going to be able to develop kids. So I don’t know that he’s going to have to have the best talent.

“I think he’ll have more of an imprint on the game. I think coaching matters even more so in college than it does in the NFL. … I think North Carolina will be much better than they’ve been, for sure. I have no doubt saying that. I think they’re taking steps in the right direction.”

Paul Finebaum: Jordon Hudson ‘doesn’t seem to be qualified to do anything but get in the way’

Belichick’s relationship with his 24-year-old girlfriend, Hudson, has been in the headlines recently. That includes Hudson becoming the subject of criticism after a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview the first-year North Carolina coach was involved in.

With concern growing behind the scenes, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum weighed in on the matter between callers on his daily The Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network. In classic Finebaum style, he was unfiltered in his response.

“The bottom line, it’s pretty simple to understand,” Finebaum said Wenesday. “Belichick’s trying to help her, trying to get her jobs, and she doesn’t seem to be qualified to do anything but get in the way.”

Finebaum’s comments come in the wake of Belichick releasing a statement Wednesday explaining his disasterous CBS Sunday Morning interview. In the statement, UNC coach defended Hudson after the taped interview revealed Hudson interrupting several line of questions from the CBS reporter Tony Dokoupil, rejecting any discussion that didn’t involve Belichick’s new book. She also reportedly stormed out and delayed the interview for 30 minutes.

— On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.